> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.secapi.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# SEC Enforcement Actions API

> Search SEC litigation releases, administrative proceedings, and AAERs by respondent, issuer, category, date, and disclosed penalty amount.

## Find the release, then read it

`GET /v1/events/enforcement` turns three SEC enforcement release feeds into one filtered list. It is useful when a research, compliance, or diligence process needs to find the relevant release quickly and keep its SEC URL with the result.

The endpoint is a research index, not a finding of liability. A respondent name can be ambiguous, a dollar amount can be absent or refer to only one component of relief, and an issuer mentioned in a release is not necessarily the respondent. Read the linked SEC release before using a result in an investment or compliance decision.

## Sources and fields

The API returns records from:

* SEC litigation releases (`litigation_release`)
* SEC administrative proceedings (`administrative_proceeding`)
* Accounting and Auditing Enforcement Releases (`aaer`)

Each record includes the source type, publication date, title, release number when available, a short excerpt, the SEC document URL, and any normalized respondent, violation, and penalty fields the source supports. `violationType` is a routing label inferred from release language; it is not an SEC legal classification.

## Start with a narrow question

```bash theme={null}
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/events/enforcement?violation_type=insider_trading&date_from=2025-01-01&limit=10"
```

The response is a standard list envelope. Save `requestId` when troubleshooting and use `nextCursor` only when `hasMore` is true.

```json theme={null}
{
  "object": "list",
  "data": [
    {
      "object": "enforcement_action",
      "sourceType": "litigation_release",
      "publishedAt": "2026-03-18T16:00:00.000Z",
      "releaseNumber": "LR-00000",
      "title": "Illustrative SEC enforcement release",
      "respondents": [
        { "name": "Example respondent", "entityId": null, "ticker": null, "cik": null }
      ],
      "violationType": "insider_trading",
      "penaltyAmount": null,
      "documentUrl": "https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/example.htm"
    }
  ],
  "hasMore": false,
  "nextCursor": null,
  "requestId": "req_example_123"
}
```

## Filters

| Parameter                     | Use it for                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| ----------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `query`                       | Matching release titles and descriptions.                                                                                                                                                            |
| `source_type`                 | Restricting the source to `litigation_release`, `administrative_proceeding`, or `aaer`.                                                                                                              |
| `violation_type`              | One normalized label: `fraud`, `insider_trading`, `reporting_violation`, `market_manipulation`, `registration_violation`, `investment_adviser`, `broker_dealer`, `municipal_securities`, or `other`. |
| `respondent`, `ticker`, `cik` | Focusing the release search on a person or issuer. Entity matches should be checked against the linked source.                                                                                       |
| `penalty_min`, `penalty_max`  | Narrowing on a disclosed dollar amount when one was parsed.                                                                                                                                          |
| `date_from`, `date_to`        | Restricting SEC publication dates with inclusive `YYYY-MM-DD` bounds.                                                                                                                                |
| `limit`, `cursor`             | Paging through a bounded result set. `limit` is 1–50.                                                                                                                                                |

## A practical review loop

1. Filter by the person, issuer, source type, or risk question you are investigating.
2. Read `title`, `excerpt`, `respondents`, and `violationType` as a triage layer.
3. Open `documentUrl`; it is the evidence for the record.
4. Preserve the release URL and `requestId` with downstream research instead of treating the normalized label as the complete story.

## Related documentation

* [Events API reference](/api-reference/events)
* [Search enforcement actions tutorial](/tutorials/search-enforcement-actions)
* [SEC Enforcement Actions API guide](/seo/sec-enforcement-api)
* [Getting started](/getting-started)